Dive For Dreams
by Slytherin Cat
Summary: "In the end, their story begins a hundred different ways, and even Lily herself isn't sure if she can place a real beginning somewhere." LilyScorpius, for Ami.


Hi people, I'm back from my self-imposed silence – probably not for more than a couple of weeks though, cause then I go back to college.

Still, this has been stuck in my head for a while, and I'm finally happy with how it ended up.

Ami, I hope you'll like it (I know it's incredibly late, but I blame you for proposing Next-Gen…)

_Word count:_ 2029

**Dive For Dreams**

'_trust your heart if the seas catch fire_

_(and live by love though the stars walk backward) _

_honour the past but welcome the future_

_(and dance your death away at the wedding)'_

_E.E Cummings, dive for dreams_

She first meets him when she gets Sorted in Slytherin. It's a very normal day, but she's tired because it's been a long day, and also excited because she just got the House she always wanted, but most of all, she's hungry.

She when he steals the last part of treacle tart that her father told her is just exquisite; she can't help but hate him a bit.

Yeah, it's petty and childish, but hey, she's only eleven, and nobody said she has to be mature if she doesn't want to. And right now, as she glares daggers at him and try to tell him he'd better drop dead in the next seconds, or better yet, give her back that part of tart she's been eyeing, because if he doesn't he won't like the consequences.

He just smirks at her, and he looks so infuriating she feels her temper flare. He eats the dessert slowly, like he's doing it on purpose to spite her – he so is too – and she feels her control slowly slipping away.

And just like that, her anger ebbs away and she smiles sweetly at him.

She's a Slytherin now, and if there's one thing she understood from her parents' stories, it's that Slytherin are the best at taking revenge. It's a good thing for her she grew up with tricksters.

For him, well… It will be interesting.

_(as it turns out, pink hair really does suit him)_

The next morning, it's her turn to smirk – after all, she knows he has no proof, and he's too proud to tell anyone he got pranked by a first year.

It's the beginning of a war, and this one tastes sweet.

* * *

In the end, their 'war' lasts for about four months before it stops. Well, she says stops, but she means finds a new direction.

A new victim, if you will. And who better than her brother James, who thought it would be a good idea to prank her whole House?

It's only a temporary truce, but it'll be more than enough. Honestly, she kind of admires his imagination sometimes, and she knows it would be incredibly funny if it was directed at someone else. Like her brother.

Together, they'll bring Hell on James Potter – and maybe on Gryffindor too, because they're Slytherins and it's not because the War put an end to most of the conflicts between the two Houses that everything is rosy. There's still competition between them, and Lily's determined not to be outdone by her brothers ever again.

She wants to shine on her own for once, and she feels she really understands what her father meant when he told her that he always hated his fame, but wanted to be seen for who he was.

It half feels like she's making a deal with the Devil, but the other half of her is already too busy planning mischief to care. After all, compared to what their elders got to when they were at Hogwarts, a little prank or two hardly seems dangerous.

And Scorpius' only a year older than she is, so comparing him to the Devil might be a little too much.

And then she catches a very familiar glint in his grey eyes, and she realizes that if anything, calling him the Devil is an understatement.

_(after all, it's what Albus called her after she repainted his whole room in bright yellow, and Scorpius' eyes look just like hers did when she had convinced everyone that James had done it)_

She finds she doesn't care, and suggests they recruit the Hogwarts House-Elves to make this school-wide.

He smiles, and for a moment she thinks he really sees her, Lily Luna and not the latest girl in the Potter-Weasley family.

It's a nice feeling and for a moment she thinks she'd do anything to keep it.

And then she shakes her head and comes back to the real world. This won't last, but she'll enjoy it while it does.

_(still, she thinks, it would be nice to be known as Lily Luna Potter and not as Harry Potter's daughter for once)_

* * *

She's in the Library when he sits next to her. They haven't talked in a year, two months, a week and three days, and no, she hasn't been counting. At all.

He's silent, and she's working on the Transfiguration essay she has to hand out tomorrow – so what if she should have finished it days ago? She had others things on her mind, such as Leila's distress over her cat's death, trying to find out if James' new girlfriend was really cheating on him like the rumors said or even if the Squid was actually an alien in disguise waiting for the right time to take over the school.

She doesn't know who started that last one, but at least now she can tell everyone with certainty that the Giant Squid is just that, as Squid.

And it only nearly cost her life. Her parents should be so proud.

Anyway, she almost forgets he's there until they reach for the same book at the same time.

"I need it," they both say.

She arches an eyebrow, he glares at her.

"What makes you think you should have it?" He finally asks her.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that I'm the one who had to get up and look for it. Or how about I need it to finish that essay?"

"Well, though luck because I need it too."

"And I was there before."

"I'm older than you, so technically I think I was there before you."

"And I'm a girl."

"And how is that in any way relevant?"

"I never said it was."

Her eyebrow is still arched and he is still glaring, but somewhere when they were talking they both let go of the book.

They look ridiculous, and just like that they're laughing.

So much in fact, that they end up being thrown out of the Library, which is a shame because she really needs to finish that essay.

Her cheeks are flushed and she's out of breath. His eyes are sparkling with mirth and she thinks it's the perfect time to ask him, before he clams up and go back to whatever he was doing before he came to the Library.

"So, I don't suppose you remember anything about the Transfiguration of frogs in watches?"

He looks at her with something akin to surprise in his eyes, but it shifts quickly to a calculating look she's now used to. After all, nothing is free in life, and that maybe is truer in Slytherin House.

"I wouldn't say remember, but I might have my old things from last year somewhere…"

"I wouldn't have pegged you for a nostalgic," she remarks.

"I never said I was. I just thought it might be useful to keep last year's assignments at hand. After all, you never know what might happen. And," he adds with a quick wink at her, "I would have thought you'd be more grateful than that. Honestly, I just saved you from one of McGonagall's rants."

She's not sure she wants to say yes, but she does need to finish her homework, and she really doesn't want to get a letter from her parents about how she hasn't been studying seriously, and she certainly could do without one of McGonagall's speeches on the importance of doing one's homework.

And she knows from her cousin Rose's rants that Scorpius actually is one of the best students in his year.

In the end, her decision isn't hard to make.

"Fine. What do you want?"

He smiles, and wraps an arm around her shoulders. "Perfect. I was thinking we should try this for our next school wide prank, but I couldn't find an adequate partner. Loath as I am to admit it, you have talent for that kind of thing…"

She listens to him explaining his whole plan, and she can't help but feel shivers of anticipation. It's gonna be brilliant, if they can make it work.

"So, you're in?"

He doesn't need to ask, because she basically accepted the moment she asked him what he wanted, but the fact that he does makes her feel like her smile could outshine the sun.

"I'm in."

* * *

The next morning, they sit next to each other at breakfast, and those who remember what happened last time they did that shivers.

Somewhere in the castle, James shifts uneasily, feels like he should avoid the Great Hall today and heads for the kitchens.

Fortunately for the population of Hogwarts, they worried for nothing. Scorpius' plan, even now that he had Lily's help, would take at least a week to be fully ready.

Unfortunately for the population of Hogwarts, that just meant they would be caught completely unaware. And it would be glorious.

Not that anyone knew any of this though, not even the two protagonists as they currently were engaged in a lively discussion about the possibility of there being a surprise test in Lily's next Defense class.

He gives her tips in case there is one, and she asks if she'll have to help him in another of his nefarious plans for those.

"Only if you want to," he answers before he goes back to his breakfast.

She smirks and gets up to leave the table. Her friends are waiting after all, and if she knows them – and she does – she's about to get grilled about what she was doing speaking with Scorpius Malfoy.

Not that she'll tell them anything, of course.

After all, there is nothing to tell, isn't there?

* * *

In the end, their story begins a hundred different ways, and even Lily herself isn't sure if she can place a real beginning somewhere.

Maybe it was when he told her that he felt like the world was closing on him when he listened to his parents argue, or maybe it was when she told him she only ever dreamed she could be treated like she was so fragile she would break if anything happened.

Maybe it was when he said he wished he had had siblings, or that his parents could just love each other for a single second. And perhaps it was when she said that she would have liked to be an only child, because even though she loves James and Al, she's pretty sure it's only human to wish for what you can't have.

Or it might have been in the half-hushed conversations they had all the time, in those almost forgotten and not quite stolen moments they stole when they were at Hogwarts.

_("We do make a good team, don't you?" He once says with an almost bitter smile._

"_I guess we do," she answers, and for a moment her eyes look older than they should. She licks her lips, blinks and the moment passes._

"_I'll see you tomorrow then?" She asks, but it's not a question because she already knows the answer._

_It's only supposed to be a temporary agreement, but there's something in the way her hair catch the light, and the way she speaks that steals his breath._

_So he says yes.)_

Personally, she thinks it's when she agreed to run away with him.

Personally, he thinks it's when they stopped running and settled in a small house – well, he says small… What he means is smaller than the Manor he grew up in.

They've left England for five years when they move back in, and they don't bother to warn anyone that they're back.

They just send out invitations for the wedding.

_(They already got married a dozen times around the world, but really, who's counting when you're in love?_

_And anyway, it'll make the perfect prank when their parents will have to seat next to each other for the whole ceremony.)_


End file.
